Jason Ayto, Ross Wilson advance in Newcastle sporting director hiring process

New York Times

3 days ago

Jason Ayto and Ross Wilson have both held follow-up interviews for the vacant sporting director position at Newcastle United.
No final decision has been made, but Ayto, the former Arsenal interim sporting director, and Wilson, Nottingham Forest's chief football officer, have advanced through a process which has been expedited due to Paul Mitchell's exit.
Advertisement
Mitchell left the club on Monday after less than a year in the role, while Darren Eales, Newcastle's CEO, is serving his notice after being diagnosed with blood cancer. Newcastle are in the final stages of appointing a new chief executive, with former Real Madrid executive David Hopkinson among the leading contenders.
Before Mitchell departed, interim responsibility for overseeing transfer deals transitioned to Andy Howe — the assistant head of recruitment and the nephew of Eddie Howe, the head coach — and Steve Nickson, the head of recruitment. The pair are working collaboratively to try and sign players from an Eddie Howe-led transfer list of targets, but Newcastle are yet to unveil a senior addition this summer, having missed out on Brighton & Hove Albion's Joao Pedro to Chelsea and with Brentford's Bryan Mbeumo specifying a preference to join Manchester United instead.
With the sporting director having already left and Eales to follow, Newcastle lack a stable senior executive structure and are in a state of flux off the field for a second successive summer.
Amanda Staveley departed as co-owner last July and the appointment of Mitchell followed, which initially unsettled Howe. Whereas Howe was not informed of Mitchell's arrival until 24 hours before, the head coach has been made aware of developments at certain stages of the process this time.
Ideally, Newcastle would prefer to bring in a chief executive before a sporting director but, should they decide upon the right candidate for the latter, those appointments could be reversed.
Ayto and Wilson are certainly prominent among the owners' thoughts, having reached the latter stages.
A former scout, Ayto had been with Arsenal for a decade and rose through the ranks to become assistant sporting director under Edu, leading an overhaul and modernisation of the club's recruitment department. When the Brazilian left Arsenal in November 2024, Ayto stepped up to become interim sporting director until the appointment of Andrea Berta. He left the club voluntarily at the end of last season.
Advertisement
Wilson has worked in senior positions at Southampton, Huddersfield Town, Watford, Falkirk and Rangers, who won their first league title for a decade during his tenure, and reached the Europa League final, before joining Forest in April 2023.
Last year, before Mitchell was appointed, then-Crystal Palace sporting director Dougie Freedman and current Southampton sporting director Johannes Spors reached the final two for the post at Newcastle. Freedman was subsequently offered the job, but turned Newcastle down, eventually leading to Mitchell's arrival.
Newcastle declined to comment on the present ongoing process for hiring a sporting director.
(Top photos: Mike Egerton/PA Images via Getty Images, Craig Foy / SNS Group via Getty Images)